Sept 2004 Newsletter

South Mountain, straight ahead. I'm looking forward to seeing a full F Company there, and I know you brave men and true won't disappoint your Captain. As this is a living history event, I would like all of you to remember the original soldier from F company that you have adopted, and become his representitive for the weekend. When you speak with the folks, you can mention they are seeing an impression of a Confederate soldier of the 21st Virginia Inf., in Sept. of 1862, by the name of_____ (you fill in the blank.) Just to make it a little more interesting, we will have roll call on Saturday and Sunday mornings, using the name of the soldier that you are representing this weekend.

Capt. Ramsey / Capt. Reuban J. Jordan
2nd Sgt. Firth / Sgt. William S. Robertson
Cpl. Pearson / Pvt. Charles E. Taylor
Cpl. Stafford / Cpl. Junius H. Anderson
Pvt. Pearry, Sr. / Shirley King
Pvt. Gammon / Pvt. Henry V. Anderson
Pvt. Baird / Richard Waldrop
Pvt. Catlett / Pvt. S. E. Wood
Pvt. Harris / Lt. Robert H. Gillian

Others still needing to adopt a soldier:
1st Sgt. Wilson, Private Schirmer
Private Gammon, Captain's orderly.

Not to worry, I will have the complete roster of the original F Company with me. In addition, we will have a Company meeting at 8 am sharp on Saturday morning, to talk about living history, and anything else that any of you might have on your mind. I really would like to hear from you, so don't be afraid to speak up if you have any comments, concerns, or suggestions concerning the life and the future of F Company. Thanks to all who manned and visited the F Company table. it was a really good weekend, and our joining forces, my bookstore and our reenactor's display, made for a very nice presence at the Civil War show. Special thanks goes to Lt. Turley, 2nd. Sgt. Firth, Cpl. Stafford, Pvt. Alexander and Pvt. Baird. And who will ever forget the visit by John Worsham and his sons! That really was the frock coat that John H. is wearing in the book. I love it when things like this happen.

I would like to thank everyone who helped with the Civil War Show. We were next to Captain Ramsey’s bookstore display. In addition to his help, Mr. Stafford helped Saturday and Mr. Baird (yes, Mr. Baird) Saturday afternoon. Mr. Alexander helped all day Saturday and Mr. Firth all day Sunday. Special thanks goes to those two for driving in from out of town. We got a few good prospects and had one very interesting visitor on Saturday. I will let the others tell you about that.

Next up, South Mountain. You can still come out even if you’re not signed up. Let’s have a good turn out for this one. See you there.

South Mountain

(September 11-12)

This is the September event that has been a long time coming. Consider it a replay of Cold Harbor, except it’s in Maryland and a little more layed back this time. As I had stated previously, this is a sole F-Company event, but I have personally invited two members of the 4^th NC to join us. Bring 50 rounds and extra caps. We will eat in camp, but bring your own provisions to sustain life. The Park Service is looking forward to our attendance and participation of the September 1862 prelude to the Battle of Sharpsburg. It was at Crampton’s Gap where the Union’s Sixth Corp under the command of William B. Franklin was ordered to move on Confederate commander Layfette McClaws with the Confederates greatly outnumbered.

Gathland State Park can be accessed from I-70 west by taking the Braddock Heights exit left into the center of Middletown, Maryland, and turning left on Rt. 17 to Burkittsville. In Burkittsville, turn right and go up the gap to the park. Camping will be across from the War Correspondent's Arch in Padgett's field, near the picnic shelter, and in front of the Barn ruins. There is a parking lot nearby to park & unload. There will be someone waiting for you to arrive (Dave Jurgella) and get you settled in. There is a water pump across the crossroads and bathrooms as well.

From Antietam, take Rt. 34 to and through Boonsboro, then right on Rt. 67 to Gapland road, left up the Mountain to the top where you see the Arch looming in front of you. Take the left spur to the parking lot-left turn into the lot.

You can take 66 through Boonboro to Alt 40, and 67. You can also take I 70 to 340 south to 17 into Burkittsville. Other info: We will be able to cook in camp. There should be a campfire ring/pit left from the past weekend already. There is a water pump across the road by the bathrooms. There will be some wood, but bring axes and forage for it too. There is a lot of deadfall. No straw, and limit tentage, since this is supposed to represent the CSA troops bivouacing in anticipation of the 6th Corps assault on Sept 14th. There will be Infantry Drill & Firing Demos on Saturday at 11am, 1pm, & 3pm. There will be cannon demos in between that by the Park Service staff. On Sunday there are Infantry demos at 11am & 1pm. You can split after that. The usual Park style drills & demos, uniform & equipment talks etc. will be fine. The Park Ranger will inspect weapons by observing our safety officer doing the actual "hands on", before each demo. If there isn’t anyone there to watch the scheduled demo for us at the designated time, we can drill on our own or go about camp duties etc. I guess that covers it for now. As I said, Dave Jurgella will be there to orient the early arrivals. If I just could get an approximate arrival time for the vanguard, I'll pass that information onto the Park Service. As for now, I do know that Mr. Perry and Mr. Pearson will be on-site Friday, September 10^th.

There will not be quartermaster issue of rations for the weekend, but we will bring our own and cook in camp, as we have always done in the past. As I always say, bring your frying pans and enough rations to sustain you through the weekend.

Actual Letter From The War

As I have a convenient way of sending a letter home I will write to you this morning. One of our men will leave in a day or two and will come tolerable near our house so I must not let the opportunity pas. It is Curtis Milley that is coming home Jim Farys wife brother and he says he will bring me anything you may have to send me if he can get any way of bringing it home from his house to Richmond if he gets a way he will tell you and you must send him home from his sisters and send me what ever you may have to send me, you must send me some brandy by him any way and some butter and molasses. I would like to have some cabbage and some potatoes if you can send them to me. And you must send me some soap to wash my clothes for without it I have to pay seventy five cents a piece to have them washed. I was on picket last Monday and four deserters came in my pit. One of them gave me a splendid overcoat. I have in a requisition on Mr. Grants boys now for an oil cloth blanket and hat as soon as I get that filled up I shall be alwright for the winter There are a great many deserters coming in at this time. They allsay that old Abe is elected and they are tired of the war. I wish they would all come to that conclusion and desert and come to us or go home one. We are having winter time weather now and I am sitting in a canvas tent shivering while I write we are going to have hard time if we have to stay in the trenches. This winter harder than any troops have ever had during the war. We may stand this winter through but when the spring opens then will come the misery but there is one consolation all through it is but poor it affords some comfort that while we are suffering the Yankees are suffering equall as much. Annie I want you to send me my shirts and all the clothes you have for me for I am entirely out. I have no socks but some cotton and my shirts are almost gone, will be I am afraid before I can get any from home. I want you to send me a vest if you can find an old one any where or anything to make one of and send me a pair of gloves also. I recon if I have good luck I will get home sometime this winter but I can not form any idea yet what time. I have given you about all the war news that I know everything remains quiet some say that Grant will stay here this winter and others that he will not. I do not know hardly what to think I would prefer his leaving but am afraid he will not. My best to mother and all of my enquiring friends. I must stop for I am so cold I can not write any more. You must write me by Curtis and give me all the news.

Enlisted June 4, 1861 at Gloucester, VA into Co. B. Transferred to Co. H on May 15, 1862. Wounded, then captured at hospital in Richmond on April 3, 1865, he survived the Civil War.

With heartfelt thanks, I share this sentimental and greatly valued letter that Miss Dotty asked for me to pass on to the members of our unit. This letter, from her great great grandfather is just another testament to bring us all closer to answering the question of why do we do this. It’s for all of them that did do it.

South Mt. L.H.- September 11^th & 12^th

140^th Cedar Creek- Oct 15^th - 17^th

Fort Branch- November 5^th-7^th

Gettysburg Parade- November 20^th

Mr. Ward is the keeper of the above items. Contact him if you need any of those items listed.

From The Secret Diaries

Of Private Gregory

“I’se Chilly”- Famous words of Butch Petrie; soldier, statesman, Motorola salesman, one of the founding members of the 41^st Virginia at Bentonville N.C.

“The only time I was warm was when I passed gas during the night”- T Zusman, 41^st VA Bentonville, N.C.

For most of us, the reenacting season runs from the beginning of March and can continue up to and including January. We will travel to events in North Carolina, the Shenandoah Valley; the far western and southern reaches of Virginia, Maryland, and Southern Pennsylvania. We will encounter some climatic extremes while attending these events. Since most events we attend take place in the warmer months we tend to worry more about heat exhaustion and sunstroke rather than cold weather injuries. For purposes of this article we will limit the discussion to hypothermia which the most probable cold weather injury we would encounter.

If you are thinking that the likelihood of getting hypothermia is low; here’s a couple of examples.

June 1989-Two members of the British Special Air Service on a military training mission in Equatorial Africa; die of hypothermia while spending the night less than 500 feet up on the slope of Mount Kilamajaro. Their deaths were attributed to a freakish weather front, which rapidly dropped the temperature 40 degrees. January 1991-A team of SAS soldiers on a mission behind Iraqi lines is compromised. Attempting to evade capture they make their way through the Iraqi countryside. Suffering from cold, dehydration, and a lack of food, three are captured by Iraqi forces, one dies of hypothermia, while one evades Iraqi forces and walks over 100 miles behind enemy lines to escape into Syria. The lone successful evader recalled that when asking for cold weather clothing at the quartermaster stores he was told “You don’t need any, you’re going to the desert-d__khead.”

Feb 1995- Four trainees at U.S. Army Ranger school die of hypothermia. The Ranger trainees were participating in a night combat exercise in Northwest Florida. The official report stated that the trainees had succumbed to hypothermia due to a combination of factors, which included sleep deprivation, a lack of protective clothing, and an insufficient amount of adequate nourishment. Simply stated they died because they were cold, wet and hungry.

Think about the above examples. These are men who are members of the world’s most elite combat units and are highly qualified in survival, in top physical condition, yet they died from exposure to the cold and in only one instance was the weather encountered winter conditions (the Iraqi combat mission).

McDowell; where we spent the night with no shelter with nighttime temperatures dropping into the thirties and a steady wind that blew all night, lowering the temperature further.

At Sayler’s Creek we encountered rain and temperatures that were rapidly dropping. The upcoming night would have been miserable for us. If Captain Jones had not been smart enough to cancel us out of further participation and get us out we could have been in some serious trouble.

What we are concerned about is called hypothermia. Hypothermia is, by definition, a drop in the body's core temperature. Any drop below a body temperature of 98.6 is considered the onset of hypothermia. or to use a period term “exposure”. What is “exposure”? Simply stated it is: The moment your body begins to loose heat faster than it produces it, you are undergoing exposure.

Every one of us has experienced exposure in one degree or another, at one time or another. You might have been waiting for the school bus one chilly morning; and since you were in a hurry you forgot your coat. As you wait you began to shiver. Shivering is the body’s way of giving you some involuntarily exercise. Shivering helps to raise your core temperature. This way your body’s core temperature stays at a safe level.

After you started to shiver, you might have started to jump up and down all the while cursing the bus driver to be a little faster. Your cursing doesn’t seem to get the bus to come any faster so you are out in the cold a little longer. Now as you are jumping around and shivering you are burning energy. This energy is not being replaced. Your body sends a signal and it starts to use your energy reserves. You are now entering a pre hypothermia phase known as Gradual Exhaustion.

You can say to yourself; well at reenactments I am not waiting for a bus. Let’s discuss a realistic scenario. You are at an event in the Shenandoah Valley during early May. The daytime temperatures were in the 60’s, which is comfortable enough considering you have a wool jacket and pants on. We have a drill session that gets quite lively and you can feel the sweat dripping down your back and being soaked up by your cotton shirt. We march a little distance, cross a creek and you get your shoes and socks wet, but its no big deal as we are marching off to the battle. We have a spirited fight and you can really feel the sweat pouring into your shirt. In accordance with the scenario we march off to our bivouac, which is couple of miles away.

We get to the campsite and you get a quick chance to cook your dinner. You take your jacket off and you think to yourself “Boy it’s a little cooler than I thought”. So you shiver a little bit and get on about your business.

It’s time to cook dinner at the Joe Fire. Since you don’t possess the arms of an orangutan you have to get up close and personal to this small vision of hell. As your dinner is cooking, the sweat starts to bead up and you wipe your face with the sleeve of your hopefully unburned shirt. Since the heat of the fire requires only two seconds to flash fry a buffalo you back off from the fire and the sweat that has accumulated in your shirt gives you a quick chilly feeling.

Well the night has a way of coming quickly and you lay down on your ground cloth, pull your blanket up and try to go to sleep. You notice that is seems awfully cold and you spend the night in a semi doze.

My friend; and you are all my friends. We need to think seriously about how to take care of ourselves in cold weather. Hypothermia can start at temperatures as high as 65 degrees.

The human body seems to have an unnerving habit of losing heat. Your body has adapted wonderfully to the need to eliminate excess heat. However this adaptation originally designed to serve us well on the savannahs of Africa where we first evolved really sucks when faced with a cold night in the Shenandoah Valley.

Okay let’s start with the concept of less is more. You really do not need to bring every blanket known to man to spend the night comfortably outside. You only need the sense of a baseball bat.

First. Let’s try something that goes a long way towards your comfort. Change your shirt. If you change your wet shirt out before you go to bed you won’t have that sweat evaporating and lowering your body temperature. While you have your shirt off, go ahead and use a towel to dry off your torso before you put the new shirt on.

The same thing goes for your underdrawers if they are wet from sweat. While you are at it you might as well take the total man approach and change out your socks.

A trick the Japanese army used to do when fighting in the winter in Northern China was to massage their feet for approximately fifteen minutes. This really got the circulation going and helped to keep them warm at night.

Now that you are looking pretty in your dry clothes, let us build our nest for the night. The more you put under you the better off you are.

Any dry natural material such as pine boughs, leaves or straw help to insulate you from the ground. If you can find some logs that have escaped the inferno, line them along your bed site to block the prevailing wind.

So lay that gum blanket out. Put your blanket down and roll up in it. Now get your second gum blanket and lay that over you. The rubberized surface will help to trap heat.

To cover your melon put on a sleeping cap or a NAVY type watch cap. Take your old socks and use them as mittens. Now lay down and go to sleep.

You are probably saying to yourself; “Bob, I have a greatcoat, what about it?”

Well my thirster of after knowledge. Yes. A greatcoat is a great idea. In fact until the issuance of sleeping bags by the ARMY late in the second World War, a greatcoat was the only thing issued for soldiers in cold weather.

Pre Civil War regulars spent the winters out on the plains fighting Indians, Mormons and others and had nothing but blankets and great coats. There is a trick to sleeping in a great coat though.

First take your regular jacket off. Put on the greatcoat. Button it up completely, including that cute half cape. Pull the sleeve cuffs down over your hands. Take your jacket and lay it over your lower legs. Pull the buttoned cape up over your head and tuck in the excess. Pull your blanket up and off to la-la land.

From Within the Ranks

Becoming Quiet

     I trudged to the covered way with the feeling of a boy going to the wood shed. Not knowing what to expect or what type of near calamity would befall me this day. The one thing that nagged at me most was that I had to trust myself to a person I had met moments before and not having had the time to form an opinion much less the trust needed to survive. Whatever this was to be I started as I always do with my silent conversation with providence and hope that He is listening this day as always. One thing for sure I know He exists cause I have made it through some bad times over the last three years. I know for sure that my mother will be pleased to find her oldest this close to the foot so to speak. My thoughts had just started to drift home when a gravely voice grunted through the near dark -- "Over here young-un." It was then that knot that wells up in me before things get bad came on me and I went in that direction in the near dawn light. Before long I was standing in front of Sgt. Pitts and was given the once over and he was not pleased.
       "I packed light like you said Sgt. Pitts," but before I could get another thing out he growled back, "not light enough boy, not light enough," with his face close to mine and irritated. So close mind you I could feel his breath on my ear he was fixing to chew off and could smell the home spun that he was a working in his jaw. What a way to start a morning much less a day in the field.
       "Get rid of this," "Don't need that," "Jesus boy they'll see this a mile off," "You will be the noisy one fore sure young-un," he growled. The whole time I was a getting this tongue lashing he was reaching, grabbing and pitching things from my person and it was piling up. I thought three years in the Army I would know a thing or two about campaigning and how to pack but evidently not. At my feet was bayonet with scabbard, tin cup and then he started on my sack and after he rifled his way through it chucking most everything to the ground then it hit the ground too. He was kind enough to hand me a cracker biscuit that was in there along with a small poke of sugar.
       There the both of us stood in that morning damp and all what possessions I had left to my name spewed out all over Hanover County. I looked down around my feet and then glanced up into the glint of his steely eyes and then what came over me was a strong urge to just dust his jaws. "Listen here Garnett, don't worry about all this," looking me in the eye and most likely sensing my ire, "just gather it all up and put it over there next to mine. Nobody will bother it." His tone had changed and it was like "Trust me."

With a muffled growl I bent over and started jamming things into my haversack and then I felt a hand on my shoulder and glanced up into a different face than what I had confronted before. "Son," he near in a whisper said to me in a way that was almost a comfort, "we have to be quiet and move like ghosts out there today." As he stiffly knelt to help me, "all this will be more in the way than a help for what we have to do today. Trust me, I have done this before." A while passed between us and before I could say to him that I was starting to understand his ways he broke the silence,"Nick we have something to do today and have to survive it on top of that. I need your help." There was an air that he was the one who needed an assurance from me that everything would be all right and we would get through another day of this war unharmed and well I saw in his face pain. A pain not of physical malady but one of the weight of what has to be done or of conscience of what one already has done.
Before I could try my hand at comfort a slight breeze whisped by us both and then he changed back into Earl Lee Pitts. His face tightened as it glanced east and his eyes went to almost slits. "We got to get going boy," he snapped as he stiffly rose on legs that didn't want to. "It will be light soon and we have to get to a spot that will do us some good. How is that canteen?" he quizzed with a look of a head master. I shook it and it didn't even give a hint of not being full. He motioned us to move forward into the covered way and without a warning spun to me and asked, "How much coffee did you drink last night Nick?" "Enough," was my reply to which he faintly barked back, "Well lad there won't be a place to go where we are going. So why don't ya just go now." "Sgt. Pitts, don't fret none," was about to be my reply but he had snorted and started leading us down before I could get finished. Soon we were there at the field of broken material and more so broken men that I had left a short time before caring not to return. I once again spoke to providence and thought of home. That did not last for long for I was brought back to this when Earl Lee wheeled around and with the look of an avenging angel and a whisper in almost a hiss he said, "Let's Go." Pass it on ------------
Pvt. Nicholas Garnett, 21st Virginia

In times past, F Company has had a table set up for recruiting at the two big relic shows of the year, the August North/South Trader show and the November Central Virginia Civil War Collectors Association/Museum of the Confederacy show. Eventually this dropped off to just the November show and, finally, to none. So, the weekend of August 21-22 was the first show that F Company had had a recruiting table in a while. Our table was immediately adjacent to Captain Ramsey’s bookstore.

The weekend was a success with an overall pretty good crowd over the weekend. We had about eight people complete cards giving us their name and contact information, with a couple appearing very interested. A number of others took fliers and were asked to visit our website. Several youngsters also stopped by the table. It’s good that at least some of the next generation is interested in history, and we may have recruits for the 2008-2011 season and beyond! Recruiters were Jack Alexander, Eldridge Firth, Marc Ramsey, Tom Stafford, Tony Turley, and myself. Not only were we able to enjoy the show and the people who stopped by, but also the good ol’ F Company camaraderie, as well.

As most of us know, one of best and most direct lines of reference on the original F Company is the book, One of Jackson’s Foot Cavalry, by John H. Worsham, who served in the company through the entire war. Who would have expected that Worsham’s great-grandson would have showed up at the table bringing with him an assortment of his great-grandfather’s original equipment, including the uniform Worsham (on crutches) is wearing in a photo in the book! We hope to have a company muster in the near future to visit the great-grandson, who lives in his great-grandfather’s house. That will be one not to miss.

Shown here are two of our notorious members: Cpl. Stafford & Capt. Ramsey at the Richmond Civil War Show along with John Worsham(the great grandson of John H. Worsham) and his two sons.

Editor’s note

Here we are again, another month behind us, and only 4 months left on the calendar with only a few remaining events. For some of us, it has been a pretty busy season, for others it has been a somewhat slower season, for others…it wasn’t much of a season at all. Please see what you all can do to end our 2004 year with a great effort and turnout wherever and whenever possible. South Mountain will be a relaxing weekend with a great opportunity to renew our friendships. Cedar Creek will be an all out assault weekend with a little of everything that a reenactor lives for. Fort Branch is the finale, which always has proven to be the best way to end the season: hospitality, an always interesting and memorable tactical, and a nice, but small battle on Sunday. The Remembrance Day Parade is a final tribute to the men who fought and/or died at the Battle of Gettysburg.

ITEM	QNTY	EACH
Cartridge Box	9	$90.00
Cap Box	6	24.00
Bayonet Scabbard	12	40.00
40” Belt (Ga Frame)	1	37.00
44” Belt (Ga. Frame/Forked Tng.)	2	37.00
46” BELT (Forked Tng)	1	37.00
Kepi (7” ¼)	1	75.00
Kepi (7” 3/8)	1	75.00
Haversack(Federal)	0	45.00
Haversack(Confed.)	2	45.00
Wood Canteen(no strap)	0	72.00
Tin Canteen(no strap or stopper)	5	40.00
Tin Plate	2	15.00
Tin Cup	2	15.00
Wool Blanket	4	25.00
Cotton Socks	11 pair	8.00
Small Va Buttons	5	0.75
Large Va Buttons	50	1.00
Block I Buttons	50	1.00
Script I Buttons	0	1.00
Hemp Rope	plenty	1.00 per Ft
Hemp Twine (roll)	27	5.00
Frying Pan	0	30.00
Shell Jacket	0	260.00
Trousers	0	145.00

Commander’s Column